School-Community Interaction
Everyone knows a strong and vital relationship exists between school and community. A civilization without schools is ludicrous, yet we cannot imagine a school existing in isolation from society. It is senseless to have one without the other. These two representations are the same thing. To improve the link between the school and society, the school should design its programs accordingly. Currently on display are a few initiatives that foster the relationship between society and education.
We know that educational programs need to be organized and founded on societal norms and traditions. Therefore, the structure of the curriculum should be determined by the learner’s social requirements and social experiences. Separating education from real-world experience is pointless and even harmful. A student must thus be familiar with such experiences pertinent to their social lives. The learner can meet social demands and handle social problems thanks to this familiarity.
Durkheim’s Theory
Durkheim was among the first sociologists to recognize the connection between school and community. He viewed education as a social phenomenon that helps a society socialize the next generation to reflect itself and ensure its continuation. The elements of the educational system are linked together and comprise precisely defined facts that share the same reality as another social fact. They are interconnected both outwardly, so that the education system reflects the moral and intellectual ideals of a society, and internally so that a particular education system has unity and consistency.
Ottaway’s Theory
According to Ottaway (1980), society is the entirety of social interactions among individuals who reside in a certain geographic area and experience a sense of community. Every culture, no matter how advanced, how simple, or how complex, has an educational system. Since no two civilizations are the same, education systems are also not the same. As a result, educational systems vary from society to civilization in terms of their objectives, subject matter, and methods.
Havighurst’s Theory
Schools are little communities that reflect society as a whole. This is among the causes. As a result, civilizations work to develop educational policies and institutions that would satisfy the needs, values, and ambitions of their citizens. According to Havighurst (1968), one may best comprehend a society’s educational system by examining its relationships with other fundamental institutions such as the family, the state, the politics, the mosque, the church, and the economy.
Read: Communal impact of school education in a progressive society
In addition to being an “educational institution,” every local school should be viewed as a wealth of specialized resources that can be used to improve the community’s social and economic cohesion. Educators must simultaneously view their local community as vibrant, robust, and rich in resources. Successful communities are diverse in terms of size, economic status, and location. They also have a wealth of resources that, when integrated and mobilized, may enhance and enrich community life.
School administrators have to deal with pre-existing complications in the neighborhood area where their school is located. However, when they are formed and maintained, connections help with student progress, parental participation, school recruiting, after-school programs, and safety (Kretzmann & McKnight, 2007). Ottaway (2010) argued that one of education’s primary purposes is to transmit culture. Teaching the youth and future members of society the cultural norms and behavioral patterns of the community is one of education’s goals. He went on to say that since our children may make up the society of the future—which is still a part of the non-social community—education may be seen as a means of socializing the young.
Every civilization has its standards, ideals, and prominent figures who set an example for the next generation to follow. Since different civilizations are not the same, a guy who is considered a hero in one society due to his contributions to the advancement of education may not be considered such in another community where education is not prioritized in the everyday activities of the people. Thus, it suggests that children in various societies have distinct role models.
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